Pine Crest Tunes Up For The Playoffs With 5-0 Win Over Westminster

Pine Crest is one of the dozens of teams across Broward that was playing its final week of games in preparation for the playoffs. One of the final tune-ups of the year for the Panthers came Tuesday evening at Westminster Academy, and the Panthers showed they are ready for district play with a 5-0 road victory.

Pine Crest graduated almost a dozen seasons off last year’s team, and coach Glen Pierson knew that there was a youth movement coming this season for the Panthers. Surprisingly to many, the Panthers matured much faster than anyone thought they would, and going into last week, Pine Crest held fate in its hands with a chance to clinch the top spot in District 13-4A. The week did not go as planned, and the young Panthers faltered, falling to third.

“Last week we had a chance to clinch the first seed, and we just didn’t play the way we had been before that,” said Shea Parikh, the winning pitcher for the Panthers Tuesday night. “This week, we were just trying to start building momentum again. Even in losing last week, it has been huge for our young guys to play in these big games and know in our minds that we potentially could be the best team in the district.”

Pine Crest started four freshman and three sophomores against Westminster, but it was Parikh, a senior, who set the tone for the game on the mound. Parikh kept the Lions’ hitters off balance all evening, giving up only one hit in four innings of work.

The Pine Crest offense gave Parikh all the runs he would need in the first inning. Walks to Parikh and Chandler Cissel, and a single by Sam Kava loaded the bases with one out. Consecutive RBI groundouts by Alex Perez and Matt Rothenberger made the score 2-0.

In the fifth, the Panthers tacked on three insurance runs with four one-out hits. Zack Kone, Parikh and Kava all delivered singles, and Cissel had the big hit in the inning, a two-RBI triple.

Pine Crest will play one more game Thursday before moving on to the district tournament, where they will face sixth-seeded Cardinal Gibbons. The rest of the week will consist of preparing for the Chiefs on Monday.

“Even today, we did certain things to start preparing for certain pitchers that we expect that we are going to face next week,” Pierson said. “We are just going to trust the preparation of the long season and know that we are ready for what we will face next week.”

Westminster, like Pine Crest, is the third seed in its district. The Lions will open their district playoffs with a matchup versus second-seeded Coral Springs Christian. The Lions and Crusaders split their two regular-season meetings.

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